Oh WOW! My back would never tolerate that. Here is my digging fork:I dislike using the tillers and every bed in a garden of nearly 1/2 acre was cultivated with a spading fork last year.
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jal_ut
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Re: Gardening Style?
digitS'
Beautiful. My entire lot would fit in your garden twice over. My yard is a jungle of weeds and potted plants. I have just planted two of the three sections of my small garden. 65 corn seeds, 1 armenian cucumber, and Diva cucumber. I still have one section to go the beans, rakkyo, cutting celery and snow peas are still occupying it. Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, citrus, herbs and a lot of other stuff (mostly weeds) occupy the pots.
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Gary350
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- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
Jal if I had a garden the size of yours I would feel like I was in heaven for sure. That sure would bring back some good childhood memories. I grew up on a farm in southern Illinois. My grandfather ran a road side vegetable market stocked with all the fresh vegetables his garden would grow. I worked there after school and weekends many times. The whole family all worked together to plant the large garden behind the house and everyone that helped had free vegetables too. We had several acres of sweet corn about 10% was ready to harvest every week and a small orchard too. Apples, peaches, melons, beans, corn, cucumbers, potatoes, peppers, berries, we had just about everything. Grandmother had chickens so we had plenty of eggs and home made butter, cream and milk from the milk cows. Home made bread, apple pie, blackberry cobbler and sweet ice tea. I never wanted to grow up and be a full time farmer like my family I worked in a factory like my father. After graduating from college I have always had a garden for the past 45 years. Jal your not far from me if I am every within 60 miles of you don't be surprised if I come to check out your garden and see what your up to.
Farming sure has changes from when I was growing up. My cousin planted 260 acres of field corn April 3rd with a 24 row planter. He has about 1700 more acres to plant. Growing up I don't remember ever planting corn until 3rd week of May and it would have taken a week to plant 40 acres.
Farming sure has changes from when I was growing up. My cousin planted 260 acres of field corn April 3rd with a 24 row planter. He has about 1700 more acres to plant. Growing up I don't remember ever planting corn until 3rd week of May and it would have taken a week to plant 40 acres.
That is a lot of garden jal, tons of good food. A JD2240 50 Hp farm tractor makes a good tiller. On the walk behind tiller, I would love to get a hiller for mine, I am going to look them up and see what I can do. Could you take some close up pictures of the hiller so I can see it better. I would like to figure out how to get one on my tiller; BCS unit.
That is one big cucumber you'r holding in your avatar.
That is one big cucumber you'r holding in your avatar.
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jal_ut
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tomf, if you will do a Google image search for "troybilt tiller hiller furrower", there are lots of good pics on the internet showing the setup of the hiller furrower.
Yes, the John Deere does duty as a snow plow in winter too. It is a nice piece of equipment to have around. I have a 5 foot deck mower for it too. That's what I use to keep the grass down on the rest of the lot that isn't tilled.
That was a unique cucumber....... when I cut it open, it looked like this:
Yes, the John Deere does duty as a snow plow in winter too. It is a nice piece of equipment to have around. I have a 5 foot deck mower for it too. That's what I use to keep the grass down on the rest of the lot that isn't tilled.
That was a unique cucumber....... when I cut it open, it looked like this:
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TheWaterbug
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I'm gardening in an old horse paddock that's about 4000 sf:
50 years of footings and horse poop have made the top few inches really nice, but below that is compacted sand and then heavy adobe clay, which makes breaking new areas a real challenge.
I never grew up with a garden, nor intended to have one, but after we bought the house 3.5 years ago I was wondering what on earth to do with this big patch of dirt and weeds. So I said to Jr., "Why don't we grow a pumpkin?" and bought a pack of seeds. Of course a pack of Jack-o-Lantern seeds has something like ~60 seeds, so I ended up with 24 little plants. I didn't want to just let them die, so I just transplanted them all. I also had 6 starts of Big Max, so I ended up with 30 vines.
Watering by hand with a hose was getting ridiculous, so I bought a drip system and fertilizer injector. Later that fall we had the first annual Pick and Paint Pumpkin Patch Party for Jr.'s friends, and from that point I've been steadily getting more and more interested in the garden.
The following spring I added corn and tomatoes that did well, plus a bunch of brassicae that failed miserably. Last year I added potatoes and sweet potatoes that failed miserably. This winter I grew brassicae that did reasonably well, and now I've got onions, garlic, leeks, peas, and soybeans that are doing reasonably well, plus some carrots and artichokes.
So there's no rhyme or reason to what I grow, other than what I think I might want to eat or what might be fun.
My garden has, heretofore, been blessed with relatively few insect pests, but plenty of large pests like peafowl and gophers.
I try to stay away from pesticides if I can, but I have no problem using commercial fertilizers. I'm a huge fan of my giant Meadow Creature broadfork and of my $500 second-hand Troy-Bilt Pony tiller, as my rock-hard soil would be much tougher to deal with any other way.
So my "style" is probably best described as "random pragmatism." I have relatively more space and enthusiasm then I have time or knowledge, so I'm willing to try just about anything, and I do less planning that I perhaps ought to.
I do a lot of trial and error, and I learn an awful lot from this forum.
50 years of footings and horse poop have made the top few inches really nice, but below that is compacted sand and then heavy adobe clay, which makes breaking new areas a real challenge.
I never grew up with a garden, nor intended to have one, but after we bought the house 3.5 years ago I was wondering what on earth to do with this big patch of dirt and weeds. So I said to Jr., "Why don't we grow a pumpkin?" and bought a pack of seeds. Of course a pack of Jack-o-Lantern seeds has something like ~60 seeds, so I ended up with 24 little plants. I didn't want to just let them die, so I just transplanted them all. I also had 6 starts of Big Max, so I ended up with 30 vines.
Watering by hand with a hose was getting ridiculous, so I bought a drip system and fertilizer injector. Later that fall we had the first annual Pick and Paint Pumpkin Patch Party for Jr.'s friends, and from that point I've been steadily getting more and more interested in the garden.
The following spring I added corn and tomatoes that did well, plus a bunch of brassicae that failed miserably. Last year I added potatoes and sweet potatoes that failed miserably. This winter I grew brassicae that did reasonably well, and now I've got onions, garlic, leeks, peas, and soybeans that are doing reasonably well, plus some carrots and artichokes.
So there's no rhyme or reason to what I grow, other than what I think I might want to eat or what might be fun.
My garden has, heretofore, been blessed with relatively few insect pests, but plenty of large pests like peafowl and gophers.
I try to stay away from pesticides if I can, but I have no problem using commercial fertilizers. I'm a huge fan of my giant Meadow Creature broadfork and of my $500 second-hand Troy-Bilt Pony tiller, as my rock-hard soil would be much tougher to deal with any other way.
So my "style" is probably best described as "random pragmatism." I have relatively more space and enthusiasm then I have time or knowledge, so I'm willing to try just about anything, and I do less planning that I perhaps ought to.
I do a lot of trial and error, and I learn an awful lot from this forum.
Not quite as big as yours Jal but some day I will make it bigger.
https://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/t ... SC0063.jpg[/img]
https://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/t ... SC0063.jpg[/img]-
TheWaterbug
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I think there's a furrower attachment for my Troy-Bilt Pony, but I can't find it anywhere. I'll have to dig up my owner's manual and find the part number.tomf wrote:Pritty gaden site waterbug.
I found a hiller that goes on my BCS, it is made by BCS and only $99 bucks, I amy have to get me one.
I think tillers are like telescopes--your first thought after buying one is, "How did I survive without one?" and your second thought is, "When can I afford a bigger one?"
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jal_ut
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- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
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I like to peel them, slice thin and eat them raw. Of course, you get the smaller ones from golf ball size and a bit larger. They tend to get tough and woody when let to get large.
Yes, I also sometimes cube, then steam, and eat them cooked. Not bad with some butter on them.
I have never tried the greens. Seems the lil bugs make so many holes in the greens, they just don't look good.
Yes, I also sometimes cube, then steam, and eat them cooked. Not bad with some butter on them.
I have never tried the greens. Seems the lil bugs make so many holes in the greens, they just don't look good.
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Jardin du Fort
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 2:59 pm
- Location: Fort Wayne, IN
When I was a kid, my dad had a veggie garden in the back yard. It was about 40' square, and in the farthest back part of the property, right next to the alleyway that wasn't there. He dug it up by hand, and added a couple trailerfull loads of sludge from the city wastewater treatment plant. I don't know that he ever spent enough time in the garden after that because what I mostly remember was tall weeds.
After I got married I put in a garden at our first rental house. It was a hybrid "square foot" Jervens garden with raised "beds" although they were all interconnected. I had some pretty good results from that garden, but had to leave it after the second year.
My second garden was four raised beds. Tomatoes and corn and zucchini and I don't remember what else. Only one year.
Garden three was more raised beds. I had prepped them in the fall, and planted winter rye as a cover crop until spring. That got tilled in, and I planted a bunch of tomatoes. Then I had to work overtime for the next four months. The garden had a lot of weeds, but I managed to harvest about two bushels of tomatoes. Lesson learned: if you don't have time for it, don't do it!
So this year I will be putting in ONE raised bed, about 4' x 10'. I've found a source for compost at $15 a yard³. That, added to my reasonably black dirt in the yard (that is on top of orange clay) should be decent for a start. That will be for summer produce. I may put in a second bed for overwintering crops, covered by a row hoop. There used to be five mouths to feed, but now there are only two. And I don't feel obligated to feed the whole neighborhood. And yes, I am in-city so there's not a lot of acreage to work with.
Where the garden is going to go:
He dug it up by hand, and added a couple trailerfull loads of sludge from the city wastewater treatment plant. I don't know that he ever spent enough time in the garden after that because what I mostly remember was tall weeds. After I got married I put in a garden at our first rental house. It was a hybrid "square foot" Jervens garden with raised "beds" although they were all interconnected. I had some pretty good results from that garden, but had to leave it after the second year.
My second garden was four raised beds. Tomatoes and corn and zucchini and I don't remember what else. Only one year.
Garden three was more raised beds. I had prepped them in the fall, and planted winter rye as a cover crop until spring. That got tilled in, and I planted a bunch of tomatoes. Then I had to work overtime for the next four months. The garden had a lot of weeds, but I managed to harvest about two bushels of tomatoes. Lesson learned: if you don't have time for it, don't do it!
So this year I will be putting in ONE raised bed, about 4' x 10'. I've found a source for compost at $15 a yard³. That, added to my reasonably black dirt in the yard (that is on top of orange clay) should be decent for a start. That will be for summer produce. I may put in a second bed for overwintering crops, covered by a row hoop. There used to be five mouths to feed, but now there are only two. And I don't feel obligated to feed the whole neighborhood. And yes, I am in-city so there's not a lot of acreage to work with.
Where the garden is going to go:
\
Lot of different ways to "skin a cat", or grow a pepper. Most of my gardening has been regular "find a corner of the yard with soil, sun and water, till it, plant it, and hope". That worked so well for so long. Currently, however, I have a lack of sun problem, poor soil, and ran into some soil diseases, wilts, etc.
That, along with a desire to better control august weeds, has led me to a "Boxes and Barrels" gardening style:
Boxes:
Barrels: (they are not really barrels, but close to it)
The original plan for the "pier garden" was with soil in both boxes. This worked great the first year
Have to throw in one picture of my wife's Iris'. They are beautiful this year
That, along with a desire to better control august weeds, has led me to a "Boxes and Barrels" gardening style:
Boxes:
Barrels: (they are not really barrels, but close to it)
The original plan for the "pier garden" was with soil in both boxes. This worked great the first year
Have to throw in one picture of my wife's Iris'. They are beautiful this year
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ReptileAddiction
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Wow. You guys have some awesome gardens! I do not have a dedicated veggie garden at the moment because I have almost no property and no where to put a veggie garden. I am going to build (hopefully in the next few months if I have the time) a raised bed garden on the side of my house. Then I will have be able to produce a good number of veggies 
. I grew up in suburbia. My mom always had a big flower garden that I would help her in and a small patch of tomatos and strawberries. I started gardening with my mom as soon as I could walk and have loved it ever since. My relatives all own/ed farms in the midwest and I would go stay with my great aunt for a week or two every summer. They had a large farm and a large garden too. The property is still beautiful but my great uncle is dead and my aunt doesnt garden many veggies any more. Someday I want to own the farm. 
. I grew up in suburbia. My mom always had a big flower garden that I would help her in and a small patch of tomatos and strawberries. I started gardening with my mom as soon as I could walk and have loved it ever since. My relatives all own/ed farms in the midwest and I would go stay with my great aunt for a week or two every summer. They had a large farm and a large garden too. The property is still beautiful but my great uncle is dead and my aunt doesnt garden many veggies any more. Someday I want to own the farm. 
Wow! What a great thread! I love seeing/hearing about all the different styles, sizes, and areas we garden in!
My gardening style has changed a lot over the years, dictated mostly by the property I lived on and the time I had at any given point.
When I was a kid we had a "small" family citrus orchard and our garden was a half acre of land closest to the house. I always hated working in the garden and especially in the orchard. Painting trunks, pulling weeds and picking up rotten fruit, harvesting through thorns and then having to dress up nice, and behave when we went to the markets to sell or negotiate price. No, thank you! The only thing I remember liking was all the melons and the large strawberry bed and non-citrus trees in the front yard. I wasn't upset and didn't understand the implications when we started having to parcel out the land and eventually sell even the small plot we had left with the house and garden, as the city encroached on us and large corporate farms were to difficult to compete against.
I remember the first garden I ever had on my own. I was 20 and my roommate suggested we start a small garden in our new house. He was shocked to come home later that day to the whole yard tilled up and me dividing up rows and marking off paths. I was even more shocked to realize I was loving it.
From that moment I have always had a garden or veggie plants of some kind. When I lived in apartments I grew tomatoes on the patio and would hang baskets of flowers or strawberries from the trees by my unit. Now I live in a condo and have to have a raised bed and large pots, as I am not allowed to dig. Stupid HOA! It is a true blessing to have a garden of any kind and I have enjoyed learning ( and continuing to learn) all the different methods and crops one can enjoy!
My gardening style has changed a lot over the years, dictated mostly by the property I lived on and the time I had at any given point.
When I was a kid we had a "small" family citrus orchard and our garden was a half acre of land closest to the house. I always hated working in the garden and especially in the orchard. Painting trunks, pulling weeds and picking up rotten fruit, harvesting through thorns and then having to dress up nice, and behave when we went to the markets to sell or negotiate price. No, thank you! The only thing I remember liking was all the melons and the large strawberry bed and non-citrus trees in the front yard. I wasn't upset and didn't understand the implications when we started having to parcel out the land and eventually sell even the small plot we had left with the house and garden, as the city encroached on us and large corporate farms were to difficult to compete against.
I remember the first garden I ever had on my own. I was 20 and my roommate suggested we start a small garden in our new house. He was shocked to come home later that day to the whole yard tilled up and me dividing up rows and marking off paths. I was even more shocked to realize I was loving it.
From that moment I have always had a garden or veggie plants of some kind. When I lived in apartments I grew tomatoes on the patio and would hang baskets of flowers or strawberries from the trees by my unit. Now I live in a condo and have to have a raised bed and large pots, as I am not allowed to dig. Stupid HOA! It is a true blessing to have a garden of any kind and I have enjoyed learning ( and continuing to learn) all the different methods and crops one can enjoy!
Okay to see some flowers? All photo's are from last year:
If you look beyond the snapdragons and such -- there are the beds of tomatoes and corn. I call this the "big veggie garden" but there is this flower corner.
Here is the "little veggie garden:"
Across a driveway at the little veggie garden is the "shady corner:"
Finish with flowers? The "dahlia garden:"
The big & little veggie gardens are in different locations. The shady corner is only "kind of" separate from the little veggie garden. The dahlia garden is on the other side of bushes from the little veggie garden. My backyard? I've only got room for the protected growing structures
. One of them is pulled down every summer and "magically" just goes back to being a couple of garden beds.
Let's see if this works: Here is my original post on this thread where I talk about all of this in 4' beds (link).
Steve
If you look beyond the snapdragons and such -- there are the beds of tomatoes and corn. I call this the "big veggie garden" but there is this flower corner.
Here is the "little veggie garden:"
Across a driveway at the little veggie garden is the "shady corner:"
Finish with flowers? The "dahlia garden:"
The big & little veggie gardens are in different locations. The shady corner is only "kind of" separate from the little veggie garden. The dahlia garden is on the other side of bushes from the little veggie garden. My backyard? I've only got room for the protected growing structures
. One of them is pulled down every summer and "magically" just goes back to being a couple of garden beds.Let's see if this works: Here is my original post on this thread where I talk about all of this in 4' beds (link).
Steve
Don't really know if I have a style. But I do prefer raised beds and trellises For anything I can trellis. 
I've always likes plants and being outside but up till a few years ago I never really wanted a garden per say. It probably started back when I still lived up in New York. I had come back from summer camp to find my mom had planted a bunch of tomato, cucumber and pepper plants in pot on our balcony. Unfortunately she planted them and just left them with out water or care...
Well let just say they weren't very happy till I came into the picture. I thought it was too sad to just leave them there so I took care of them and so we ended up with veggies lol
Though it wasn't until I moved back down south that I realized how much I loved to garden so I oh so casually mentioned it to my dad and he came home with plants and potting soil!! Guess he didn't realize that I'd end up covering his back yard with raised beds when he did that.
I've always likes plants and being outside but up till a few years ago I never really wanted a garden per say. It probably started back when I still lived up in New York. I had come back from summer camp to find my mom had planted a bunch of tomato, cucumber and pepper plants in pot on our balcony. Unfortunately she planted them and just left them with out water or care...
Well let just say they weren't very happy till I came into the picture. I thought it was too sad to just leave them there so I took care of them and so we ended up with veggies
lolThough it wasn't until I moved back down south that I realized how much I loved to garden so I oh so casually mentioned it to my dad and he came home with plants and potting soil!! Guess he didn't realize that I'd end up covering his back yard with raised beds when he did that.
Nice seeing the photos of your gardens. laknbay where is your boat for that dock, I would be out water skiing on smoth mornings if I lived on a lake. I keep telling my wife the one thing we don't have is a lake;LOL. I like the open field you call your hunting land, you could put in one big garden there, if you have water.
Digits; nice gardens, love your flowers Where are you in Idaho, near Bosie?
Some of the gardens are big, and some are small, but they are all nice, and I love seeing them.
Thanks for sharing all.
Digits; nice gardens, love your flowers Where are you in Idaho, near Bosie?
Some of the gardens are big, and some are small, but they are all nice, and I love seeing them.
Thanks for sharing all.